Salem, OR — An official with the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) got the scare of his life this week and it was all caught on video.

Beau Appling, an ODOT incident responder, was traveling northbound on Interstate 5 on Monday at approximately 2 p.m. when a snow-heavy tree fell across the roadway right in front of him.

In a dash cam video shared to social media, you can see the heart-stopping moments when the tree is toppled by the weight of the snow and comes crashing down into the path of Appling’s vehicle.

Say you’re driving and when a large tree begins to fall…you catch it all on your #dashcam. 😮 That’s what happened yesterday to one of our incident responders. #Thankful one was hurt! @ORStatePolice and a logging crew helped this not become an hours-long traffic incident. pic.twitter.com/wSuZrdXhAv

— OregonDOT (@OregonDOT) December 28, 2021

Thankfully, disaster was averted as the tree did not crush the vehicle and only caused damage to the windshield.

“I didn’t see it coming, I didn’t see it start to fall, I had no idea it was happening until the windshield shattered,” Appling told local outlet KOIN 6 News.

No chain reaction crashes or injuries were reported.

ODOT said Oregon State Police (OSP) spotted a private logging company truck which was waiting in the traffic and the loggers agreed to help remove the fallen tree from the road.

“After an OSP escort up the shoulder, the loggers made short work of it, having the tree cleared about an hour after it had fallen, with all travel lanes open and flowing in about 30 additional minutes,” ODOT stated.

ODOT also offered this winter weather driving warning.

“Be watchful. Slow down, and be careful out there.”

RECENTLY RELATED

New Aerial Video of Massive Pileup on I-94 is Staggering

Police Release Dash Cam Video of Ohio Trooper Plowing Into Big Rig

Trooper’s Oh-So-Close Call With Merging Big Rig Has Social Media Playing the Blame Game

MURDER ON DASH CAM? Ohio Police Ask Truckers for Help in Solving Interstate Murder